Williams Taxi (Williams, 1988) ball problem

[Billybobkas]

I have a machine I bought 10 years ago. Played it until the other day. Now when my ball finishes the spin out or lands in Dracula it won't spit the ball out. There was light smoke the day it stopped working. No smoke now if I turn it on though. I know zero about machines and would live to know if its an easy fix. Still powers up and plays fine but the ball won't pop out of those two spots. Thanks in advance.

 

[merkury]

I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing smoke is not good... Where did the smoke come from?

I could be a switch or a solenoid I suppose. Worst case scenario is a transistor on the main circuit board I would imagine.

Do you have a manual for the machine? If so, then I would try putting the machine into a test mode and try testing the switches in the spots you describe not working. If those switches work then it might point toward a solenoid or the power going to a solenoid.

Did you check for blown fuses? I don't know if that would be it or not, but just trying to help.

 

[faralos]

smoking is bad for yer health
ain't no one ever told you that?
seriously check ALL fuses and the solenoids
BEFORE plugging it back in lest you trash something else from a short somewhere
if you still can't locate the smoke source then plug it in
and go through each fuse and contact to make sure that all contacts are open
and not stuck in their closed position!
The kicker itself may be shot now that you saw smoke
I'd go with disconnecting that first then check to see if the pin powers up
and plays without that kicker in operation
I hope it's just a switch or solenoid but it really does sound like a board problem

 

[faralos]

now that i think about it the solenoid for that kicker may have fused
closing the circuit permanently

 

[spalmer]

This is a common failure. What likely happened is the driver transistor for the solenoid went back and smoked the coil. Let me look at the schematics for it this weekend and I can point you in the right direction to repair it.

 

[Billybobkas]

Is there anyone that could shed any light here? Still haven't fixed and no one in my area does it. I don't even know how to check fuses

 

[Billybobkas]

Also the Lola pop up things and pinbot ones don't always recognize that they've been hit.

 

[Billybobkas]

If someone can FaceTime and they think they can walk me through a fix is gladly PayPal them a fair wage.

 

[Billybobkas]

Oops. It appears the three bumpers at the top don't work either. Lights and everything else function well.

 

[spalmer]

Send me a PM with your contact info. I think I can help. Won't be till the weekend though.

 

[pinballdaveh]

how are you guys doing with your repair?